Out With The Warm...

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So here endeth our tropical tour and we head now into the chilly south of Australia!


So Darwin, Up here right in the north of Australia, it isnt on everyones route round the country... however it should be! its really amazing and the scenery around the city is fantastic!

We spent our first day visiting the markets of the town including the fantastic mindil beach night markets! they were brilliant, interesting stalls, great food and awesome music being played! Capped off with an amazing sunset, it was a great way to start off in Darwin!

Our second day was spent at East Point, where a large Australian defense force was based against the threat of japanese bombings and invasion during World War 2, it was interesting to go see a completely different style of defensive placement to those we see in England and France! with temperatures averaging around 30degrees it was lovely to be outside as well!!!

We then spent a lazy day around Darwin exploring the city and just chilling out in the parks playing Uno and having a kickabout with Aussie Rules Ball mark 2!!!

We also visited the local museum which had a really amazing display on Typhoon Tracey which flattened Darwin and its surrounding are in the 1970's! out of the then 90'000 population 97% were left homeless and only 10'000 were left in the city for rebuilding and cleaning up purposes after a mass Airlift!

We then spent the day in Kakadu National Park! Kakadu is a world heritage site and is truely fantastic. it is also an important place in Aboriginal history and there are many wonderful rock art sites as well! The wildlife is also super! we went on a crocodile cruise down yellow river, and not only did we see 7 crocs, but we also saw a 3.5metre croc eating another croc! possibly on of the coolest things i have ever seen!!!! we also saw white fronted eagles and whistling kites which were also really cool!

On the way home from the park we stopped off at these massive termite mounds, some of which were about 4-5metres tall! an impressive feat seeing as they are made up entirely of their saliva and poo!!!!

After Kakadu we caught a short ferry to one of the islands off Darwin, and had a wonderful lunch and chill in the sun!!!

Our final day here was spent in Litchfield National Park about 1.5hrs from Darwin! to get there you have to drive on the stuart highway which goes all the way down the middle of Australia to Adelaide, tis quite a way!! we also drove past quite a few 3 and 4 container long road trains which hurtle down the highway with little regard for anything on the road!!!

In the park we wnet to some amazing waterfalls for a swim and some rock jumping! we spent about 2 hours in crystal clear waters ! we also saw a variety of wildlife including a yellow snake, some red spiders and a river goanna!!! it was very cool!!!
For dinner tonight we decided to make mexican with a slight twist, as well as chicken fajitas we made kangaroo burritos as well and it was delicious!!! i would heartily recommend it!!!

So we head off to Melbourne tonight, our flight leaves a 2.45am bleurgh.... so i must go and catch sum zzz's

Hope all is well, spk soon

Pete

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